When we first married 25+ years ago, I made a meatless tamale pie for dinner one evening. We were financially strapped and I was trying to find creative ways to save money by spending less on groceries and a meatless dish seemed like a good idea.
We live in Southern California and both of us love Mexican food and Mexican-inspired food, so I thought I’d made a “home run” plus I thought I was being thrifty. This was the start of my plan to make a meatless dinner once a week.
First bite into the pie, my husband, Charlie, said, “if you think you’re going to make a vegetarian out of me, you are sorely mistaken!” Not the words of praise I was expecting to hear (if was very good, by the way!).
That was the end of my “meatless Mondays” and the one and only time I made tamale pie until I made a Southwest Tamale Pie a few months ago for this blog. Anyway, over the years Charlie has “softened” on this stance and we’ve had many, many meatless meals!
Food purchases are one of the major budget busters for today’s family. A trip to the grocery store is akin to the game “Candyland” in that food producers and manufacturers are always developing new ways to tempt us to buy their products. And, with all these bells & whistles flashing in our faces as we walk down the grocery store aisles, most of us succumb and veer from our well-crafted, finely tuned grocery list!
So, other than “the usual” ways to stretch your food budget dollars (eat before you shop, stick to a list, “meatless Mondays”, etc.), what other simple food saving strategies can be adopted to trim your grocery bill and maximize your food dollars?
Here are 3 ideas for stretching your food budget dollars:
USE IT ALL UP
Purchase just enough fresh fruit and vegetables to last your family until the next shopping trip. Overstocking on perishables leads to waste and I’ve been guilty of this plenty of times (check out one of my earlier posts – Here Today, Gone Tomorrow). Fresh fruit and vegetables have a limited shelf life and spoilage is a possibility, cutting into your precious food budget dollars.
So, plan your daily menu around perishables that need to be used, including meat and dairy products. And, be mindful of the printed expiration dates (here’s another earlier post: Warning! About to Expire!).
For example, if you prefer not to eat overripe bananas, freeze them. They can be used to make smoothies, popsicles or defrosted and mashed to make banana bread and muffins. Do you have strawberries on the verge of spoiling? Cut them up, add sugar and freeze them to use in future desserts and smoothies.
Remember: your freezer is your friend!
Also, save the ends of loaves of bread instead of throwing them out. Freeze them and use them later when you’ve collected several. Some recipe ideas to consider using bread ends and trimmings:
- Bread Pudding
- Strata and breakfast casseroles
- Bread Salad
- Bread Cookies
- Croutons
- Bread Crumbs
- Thickening agent for stews
- Crostini and bruschetta
With so many ways to use leftover bread, relegating bread ends and pieces to the trash should be last on the list!
MAKE SOUP
Save leftover meats, meat trimmings and bones. Again, freeze them for later soup making possibilities. I save all of our chicken bones religiously and make chicken soup about every two months. Yummy! You can make a hearty beef and vegetable soup, ham and bean soup, pork soup to name a few. And, always save the Thanksgiving turkey carcass for turkey soup.
Forget canned vegetables when making soup! Add limp, no longer fresh vegetables to your soup and you’ll save even more. There are even recipes out there for lettuce soup.
Plus, you can make gravy from bones. Here’s an earlier post which shows you how: Perfect Beef Gravy.
HAVE A “LEFTOVERS” NIGHT
Take all the leftovers out of the refrigerator and place them on your counter. Let the kids and the hubby pick what they want for dinner and fire up the microwave. Not only is fixing dinner quick and easy, but you’ve cleaned out your refrigerator at the same time. Combine it with something special, like game night or movie night, and make it a tradition. Who knew leftovers could be fun?
These are all easy, painless strategies that you can implement right now.
Are you a “planner”? Do you sit down at your table, plan your menu for the week, make a grocery list around your menu and use your perishables in a timely manner? I’m not. For whatever reason, this is a strategy that eludes me {grin}.
Even if you aren’t a “planner”, you can open the refrigerator, see what’s in there and what needs to be used next and make dinner from there.
How do you stretch your food budget dollars?
Tootles,
Related Posts:
(other posts about Saving More, Spending Less and Building Financial Security)
Leave a Reply